rterry@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Ray Terry) (05/22/88)
Does anyone out there has signficant experience with (therefore a reaction to the new(er) SuperMac XP150 (external hard disk drive)). I hear that it is good, fast, but expensive. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with that can tell me about their actual experience in using the drive... I'm currently using the old DataFrame 20 and the newer XP60 (on a Mac Plus w/2.5 meg) had have found both to be pretty solid with only fair support from SuperMac. Any and all comments are welcome. As usually, I summarize and post a reply at a later date. Thanks. Ray Terry rterry%hpda@hplabs.hp.com
kaufman@polya.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) (05/23/88)
In article <6150020@hpcupt1.HP.COM> rterry@hpcupt1.HP.COM (Ray Terry) writes: >Does anyone out there has signficant experience with (therefore a reaction >to the new(er) SuperMac XP150 (external hard disk drive)). I hear that it >is good, fast, but expensive. Yes, and yes, and yes. There are only two problems with it in my application: 1) it comes up too slowly, so that if there is also an internal disk, the internal always gets recognized (if you strap the AC power to a single switch). Thus, I have to turn it on first, and give it 15-20 seconds to spin up before I boot the Mac. 2) It's boot sector cannot handle A/UX partitions... so that you can't run it in partitioned mode with both A/UX and Mac OS [they are working on a fix for this one]. Marc Kaufman (kaufman@polya.stanford.edu)
werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (05/24/88)
> 2) It's boot sector cannot handle A/UX partitions..
my DF-20XP has been giving me some problems (again) since yesterday which led me
to visit my friend Les Herbst, author of MacZAP, to pick up the latest version
of MacZAP (best to start with all the latest tools, right? :-) ...
and he mumbled something about the DataFrame software having some peculiar
problem no other drive seems to have. I was busy with something else at the
time, so I did not pay much attention; but the enthusiasm I had for Dataframes,
initially, has long since evaporated anyway.
BTW, Les has revamped the ZAP-software in an amazing way and he has licensed it
to a software-publisher who will release it under the name of SUM (short for
Software Utilities M.... - I forgot, darn it) shortly (it's now beta 0.98),
and I understand that registered ZAP-owners can get it for $30 (given that
Les handed over the registered owners list to the publisher I saw myself
motivated to fill out a registration card, something I rarely do).
Les also has the same problem I have with his DataFrame-XP20 (it sometimes
doesn't complete the boot-cycle, preventing it from coming online;
you can tell it is happening by listening to the sound it makes - just like
the old TECMARs, remember those? the solution is also the same: beat it or
drop it from an inch or two - no kidding)
I also join the previous poster in lamenting the support; I no longer call
them after an experience last July; a LONG time ago, you'd be able to
talk to someone knowledgable and have a meaningful conversation; last time
I wasted some phone-money on them, they connected me with some "new kid"
whose task it seemed to be to discourage callers by displaying ignorance.
also, the "we'll have someone call back" record was dismal. Our consortium
store no longer sells Dataframes either ... (for what that's worth) ...singer@endor.harvard.edu (Rich Siegel) (05/25/88)
In article <2694@utastro.UUCP> werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) writes: >to a software-publisher who will release it under the name of SUM (short for >Software Utilities M.... - I forgot, darn it) shortly (it's now beta 0.98), >and I understand that registered ZAP-owners can get it for $30 (given that The revamped MacZap is being published by Symantec (THINK Technologies' parent company)) and is begin sold under the name SUM (for "Symantec Utilities for the Macintosh); I don't recall the cost, though. --Rich Rich Siegel Quality Assurance Technician THINK Technologies Division, Symantec Corp. Internet: singer@endor.harvard.edu UUCP: ..harvard!endor!singer Phone: (617) 275-4800 x305